Amazon is reportedly preparing to launch an updated 7-inch Kindle Fire alongside a brand new 9-inch tablet this summer. Pacific Crest analyst Chad Bartley on Thursday raised his full-year Kindle Fire shipment forecast to 14.9 million units, up from his earlier estimate of 12.7 million. “We believe there is an upward bias, particularly from the new 7- and 9-inch models, which we expect to launch in mid-2012,” Bartley wrote in a note to clients. BGR exclusively reported last May that Amazon was working on two tablet models, the 7-inch “Coyote” that ended up launching at the Kindle Fire last November, and the quad-core 10-inch “Hollywood.” A later report would suggest that Amazon tweaked its tablet roadmap, however, pushing the release of its 10-inch model back in order to first launch a new 8.9-inch tablet. Bartley also lowered his shipment estimates on Amazon’s E Ink Kindle eReaders from 28.6 million units to 24 million units.

Following the successful launch of its first tablet last week, Amazon reportedly plans to launch a second model as soon as the second quarter next year. Fresh off an apparent miss — Asus went on record in denying an earlier report from the site on Friday — DigiTimes cites unnamed sources from within Amazon’s supply chain in claiming that the company’s next Kindle Fire tablet is scheduled to launch by the end of the second quarter 2012. The site reported earlier this month that Amazon’s 8.9-inch model would follow the 7-inch Kindle Fire, bumping the 10-inch quad-core “Hollywood” tablet BGR exclusively revealed into late 2012. DigiTimes also noted that Foxconn has been added as a second ODM for the current Kindle Fire, and it will join Quanta in mass-producing the 7-inch slate in the first quarter next year. More →